5 good new years resolutions for a cyclist

As the new year hangover subsides you may have some vague recollection of setting some new years resolutions at some point during your drunken antics!

If you can’t remember what they were then even better! Here are five cycling related new years resolutions to replace your forgotten ones! My tip: Only try and do one per month.

Set a goal for number of miles you will cover this year

4000 miles is a good figure. You may be aiming to do more, stop showing off! You may need a bike computer and a diary to track the number of miles you are covering.

Go on a 1 week bike tour

This is one I’m personally aiming for around March/April time. If you need some help planning it then I recommend the Bicycle Travellers Blueprint – you still have 5 days to get it at 40% off! Try thinking of somewhere you have always wanted to visit and start planning how you are going to do it.

Learn to maintain your own bike

This could be one of the best ones to learn. Being able to maintain your own bike saves you money and keeps everything running smoothly. Aim to perhaps teach yourself one new repair per week slowly upgrading your bike. Alternatively sign up for a bike maintenance course in your local area. Many of these are heavily subsidised.

In the next two weeks I’m launching a free eBook that will show you how to maintain your own bike. In the mean time take a look at the maintenance books I recommend.

Get one more person out of their car and onto a bike

This is quite an eco-warrior one! Pick on a friend that is stuck in the the Noughties and move them over to the Teenies – the decade of the bike! Help them out by telling them about the cycle to work scheme so they can get 50% off their new bike. Then pester help them until they surrender willingly move to pedal power.

Replace one car journey with a bike journey

Perhaps you need to go all eco-warrior on yourself. If you still frequently drive somewhere try to look for ways that journey could be done by bike. If you’re driving to the supermarket look into perhaps buying a bike trailer so you can transport the groceries home.

To rack up the extra miles there’s really only two ways. On purpose go a long route to work to add in a few extra miles here and there and also do some weekend rides. There’s probably plenty of nice areas to explore on your bike. I agree 4000 is a lot and not necessarily everyone’s goal. 4000 would be a good figure for someone looking for a lot of additional fitness.

Goals are a good motivator and as mine is to ride the Etape du Tour in July, I’ll set some short and medium term goals as well. Su Yin, congrats on managing 2000 miles, I hope to come close. My cycle commute is 60 miles round trip, so I’m preparing to start that in the Spring. Cycle advocacy will be the main focus of 2010 though, the more cyclists on the road the better for everyone, even if some people won’t see (or accept) that.

Great ideas – I commute only 10 miles a day and not every day at that but by doing longer rides at weekends (50 miles or so) I can do around 300 miles a month – if I can do over 3,000 miles this year I’ll be happy.

I use Nokia Sports Tracker to count the distance: it’s free software and you can upload data to a web service.

On the bike trailers: some Waitrose shops will actually lend you a bike trailer free of charge and fit the bracket to your bike for you!

@Griff – like the sound of your 2010. It’s a good goal you have for July and I’m sure you’ll make it
@Martin – I’ve used Nokia sports tracker before, very useful actually for keeping track of progress. Had not heard that thing about waitrose before but that is very cool, I might ask my local waitrose and see if they do that
FGP – sounds like it would be an awesome bit of cycling

Thanks Andreas for your Ideas for Christmas presents they have been very helpful! My aim this year is to cycle down to my local shops.
As a cyclist i think my bike from Toys R us is now inadequate and il be looking for a more expensive, smoother road bike.

I’m looking forward to the bike maintenance course I am booked to go on in February.
Am also looking forward to being able to cycling in the rain now…as I have my jacket and gloves…just need those bottoms.
I also aim to be more patient with drivers and less hot headed…